GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy: Obama administration hiding Benghazi survivors, changing their names

GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy: Obama administration hiding Benghazi survivors, changing their names

gowdy-benghaziWhile appearing on Fox News’ “On the Record” with Greta van Susteren on Thursday, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said the Obama administration is hiding survivors of the Benghazi terror attack, dispersing them around the country and changing their names.

“Stop and think what things are most calculated to get at the truth? Talk to people with first-hand knowledge. What creates the appearance and perhaps the reality of a cover-up? Not letting us talk with people who have the most amount of information, dispersing them throughout the country and changing their names,” he said.

Gowdy’s statement came after CNN’s Jake Tapper reported that “dozens” of CIA operatives were on the ground in Benghazi during the attack and is currently engaged in a major effort to keep those operatives silent.

“Since January, some CIA operatives involved in the agency’s missions in Libya, have been subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph examinations, according to a source with deep inside knowledge of the agency’s workings,” Tapper wrote.

Normally, agency employees are polygraphed every three or four years, according to former CIA operative and CNN analyst Robert Baer.

“You don’t jeopardize yourself, you jeopardize your family as well,” one insider reportedly said, according to information obtained by CNN.

But CIA spokesman Dean Boyd says the agency has been open with Congress.

“The CIA has worked closely with its oversight committees to provide them with an extraordinary amount of information related to the attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi,” he said in a statement.

The statement also said CIA employees are “always free” to speak with Congress if they wish.

“The CIA enabled all officers involved in Benghazi the opportunity to meet with Congress. We are not aware of any CIA employee who has experienced retaliation, including any non-routine security procedures, or who has been prevented from sharing a concern with Congress about the Benghazi incident,” the statement added.

Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., said that after the attack, he was contacted by people closely tied to CIA operatives and contractors who wanted to speak out.

Then suddenly, Tapper wrote, there was silence.

“I think it is a form of a cover-up, and I think it’s an attempt to push it under the rug, and I think the American people are feeling the same way,” he said. “We should have the people who were on the scene come in, testify under oath, do it publicly, and lay it out. And there really isn’t any national security issue involved with regards to that.”

Wolf has repeatedly sought a Watergate-style select committee to look into the Benghazi attack and determine what the State Department and CIA were doing there.

When asked Wednesday what scandals Obama considered to be “phony,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney mentioned the scandals involving the IRS and Benghazi.

“What we’ve seen as time has passed and more facts have become known, whether it’s about the attacks in Benghazi and the talking points or revelations about the conduct at the IRS,” he said, “attempts to turn this into a scandal have failed. And, you know, when it comes to the IRS, as I said the other morning, the president made very clear that he wants the new leadership there to take action to correct improper conduct and that is happening, and he expects results.”

Video of Gowdy’s statement can be seen here.

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Joe Newby

Joe Newby

Joe Newby is an IT professional. He has written for Conservative Firing Line, Examiner, NewsBusters, and Spokane Faith and Values.

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